The Master

Become an apprentice and travel with the Master on a path to spiritual enlightenment.

A modern telling of a traditional Chinese Buddhist parable, The Master is an account of the wanderings of an enlightened monk and his pupil. It will appeal to readers not just for its rendition of Buddhist themes, but also for the insights it gives into ancient Chinese daily life.

In the story, the pupil is presented as an ingenuous youngster eager to acquire wisdom, but subject to all the faults, impatience, and lack of understanding of youth. As the two travel, they encounter sages and tempters, emperors and beggars, each of whom offer lessons for the pupil on his path to Enlightenment. The book’s style is poetic, especially in its descriptions of the natural world, and its unstructured style is ideal for browsing. Wherever it opens the reader will find something thought-provoking in the insightful narrative:

• Everything is tasty when it is prepared with respect and eaten with gratitude.
• Each house was crowned by a golden roof.
• The path is in yourself.

A book for students of Buddhism and seekers of any kind, The Master is both a source of inspiration and a literary delight.

Chao-Hsiu Chen was born in Taiwan and later studied music in Vienna and Salzburg. She has a wide knowledge and deep understanding of the many strands of Chinese philosophy and is an expert in the art of feng shui. She is the author and illustrator of The Bamboo Oracle (Tuttle, 1998) and author of Body Feng Shui (Destiny Books, 1999) and Beauty Feng Shui (Destiny Books, 2001).